MGMA testimony for House hearing on Change Healthcare cyberattack (April 16, 2024)

April 16, 2024 
 

Re: MGMA Statement for the Record — House Committee on Energy and Commerce Hearing, “Examining Health Sector Cybersecurity in the wake of the Change Healthcare Attack”

Dear Chairman Guthrie and Ranking Member Eshoo:

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) thanks you for holding this important hearing examining health sector cybersecurity in the wake of the Change Healthcare attack. MGMA members were significantly impacted by the cyberattack and continue to deal with the fallout. We appreciate the
Committee reviewing how this caused so much disruption to our nation’s health system and examining policies to help mitigate future cyberattacks.

With a membership of more than 60,000 medical practice administrators, executives, and leaders, MGMA represents more than 15,000 group medical practices ranging from small private medical practices to large national health systems, representing more than 350,000 physicians. MGMA’s diverse membership uniquely situates us to offer the following policy recommendations.

On Feb. 21, Change Healthcare experienced a cyberattack that critically impacted the U.S. healthcare system, causing unprecedented outages. Change Healthcare touches one in three patient records and processes 15 billion healthcare transactions annually.1 With one corporate entity providing so many services to such a wide swath of the nation’s healthcare ecosystem, the disruptions caused by the malicious cyberattack resulted in substantial harm.
 

View the full letter